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I can't decide if the unprecedented rise in popularity of AOC is really because there's that many who believe her non-sense or if the rest of the political world is using her as a convenient distraction from all their nasty bullshit..?

I can't decide if the unprecedented rise in popularity of AOC is really because there's that many who believe her non-sense or if the rest of the political world is using her as a convenient distraction from all their nasty bullshit..?

Haha! Well politics is like bowling. If you go too far to the left or the right you end up in the gutter and there is a small sweet spot somewhere in the middle and if you can hit that just right then you knock down all the pins and if you can keep doing that you win. Cortez is too far to the left to go anywhere other than be popular in areas most people are on welfare and get bused to the polls every November. Just enjoy the freak show.

We very well could be looking at a three party race in 2020 or after that. The radical left have taken over the Democrat Party and they have driven off into the corn field. The more conservative Democrats no longer can align themselves with the radicals and they are looking for somewhere else to go besides the Republican party. There is a sweet spot in the middle where a lot of people in this country want to be but neither the Republican or Democrat parties satisfy them. These would be your fiscally conservative capitalists who are more liberal on social issues and really don't want to be tied to the religious right nor do they agree with the extreme socialist position of the current Democrat Party. If you get the right type of person running that understands the current dynamic you are going to get a big surprise. Politics is going somewhere different finally all we have seen in our lifetimes is the typical Republican vs Democrat bullshit. It will be interesting. We will either have a three way race with a big surprise or a second term of Trump.

No air travel? Right. Boeing and the airlines will let that happen. CNN already ran an article on how much Booker, Harris, and Warren spent on private air travel...even as they co-signed her proposal.

High paying jobs I have no problem with, but I could do without the union part. Not in a union shop now and wouldn't go back to one.

"Economic security for all who are unable or unwilling to work." Unwilling? Yeah, fuck you.

And she can have my sub-10 MPG trucks when she pulls the steering wheels from my cold, dead hands.

I don't think she's saying that air travel should be abolished, but rather that there could be an alternative. Between TSA bullshit, ridiculous rules about what you can't take on a plane, and the shrinking size of passenger seating to the point where anybody taller than 5'4" can't even sit in anything other than the emergency exit row of seats, I know I would rather take a train than fly, if one could get there at a decent rate of speed. Airplanes would still have to exist, obviously, because there's no way to take a train from the North American continent to Europe or Asia, and there's no other way to get to Australia at all.

Hell, even if Russia wasn't led by a complete asshole, I doubt that a railroad tunnel under the Bering Strait (similar to the "Chunnel" between the UK & France) is going to happen any time soon, though it sounds great as an idea. And that would still leave the Aussies & Kiwis out of the loop. Not to mention the penguins in Antarctica.

The resolution also backs the concept of high-speed rail as a proposal to reduce carbon emissions -- but the FAQ goes so far as to urge that development “at a scale where air travel stops becoming necessary.”

Which is a nice idea, until one factors in the costs of buying buildings and property for new rail routes. Hyperloop is going to come up against the same thing. And freight has priority on the rail system now, which is part of why Amtrak isn't a viable option.

When people get fed up with the airline regulations and TSA, they'll make the move to another mode of transport. The government shouldn't be involved in that decision.

Bottom line is that the US needs a firm commitment to a REAL infrastructure upgrade. And not the corporate giveaway bullshit/toll road privatization scam that Cheeto wants, but more along the lines of a 21st century version of what FDR & Eisenhower did. And yeah, that means the marginal tax rates are going to have to be where FDR & Eisenhower had them, in order to pay for it. Comes down to "spending" vs "investment".

Trillions of dollars wasted on endless wars which have nothing to do with the security of the US = spending.
Infrastructure upgrades which create living wage jobs and allow for the creation of new US businesses = investment.

As far as the high speed rail routes go, in many cases it could be built parallel to existing rail or existing highways. If there are locations where this isn't possible, then property purchases would need to be made, but that's nothing that hasn't been done before (i.e. for the Interstate Highway system, the US highway system before that, or the existing railroads, etc.)

As far as the high speed rail routes go, in many cases it could be built parallel to existing rail or existing highways. If there are locations where this isn't possible, then property purchases would need to be made, but that's nothing that hasn't been done before (i.e. for the Interstate Highway system, the US highway system before that, or the existing railroads, etc.)

Yeah, all of that shit was built before neighborhoods went in next to freeways and railroads!

Homeowners and municipalities would have eminent domain cases tying up the courts for years.

Bottom line is that the US needs a firm commitment to a REAL infrastructure upgrade. And not the corporate giveaway bullshit/toll road privatization scam that Cheeto wants, but more along the lines of a 21st century version of what FDR & Eisenhower did. And yeah, that means the marginal tax rates are going to have to be where FDR & Eisenhower had them, in order to pay for it. Comes down to "spending" vs "investment".

Trillions of dollars wasted on endless wars which have nothing to do with the security of the US = spending.
Infrastructure upgrades which create living wage jobs and allow for the creation of new US businesses = investment.

As far as the high speed rail routes go, in many cases it could be built parallel to existing rail or existing highways. If there are locations where this isn't possible, then property purchases would need to be made, but that's nothing that hasn't been done before (i.e. for the Interstate Highway system, the US highway system before that, or the existing railroads, etc.)

Yeah and the truth of it is BOTH parties are at fault. Both supported expensive meddling overseas and both spend like drunken sailors. Of course we all know we could have built a lot of infrastructure for what we wasted in Iraq alone but I don't see any of the bullshitters, carpetbaggers and do nothings in Washington DC fixing any of it. That being said I don't see any place better in the world to move to. Every place has it's own problems. So enjoy the freak show and keep your dick hard and your powder dry. Just be glad you don't live in Venezuela and crack open a beer to celebrate that fact.

I can't decide if the unprecedented rise in popularity of AOC is really because there's that many who believe her non-sense or if the rest of the political world is using her as a convenient distraction from all their nasty bullshit..?

The amount of media attention she has gotten seems totally disproportionate with the amount of electoral success she has thus far had and the amount of actual, political power she currently wields. Some of her stances on various issues I agree with. Others, she comes across as very, very naďve...in both the positive and negative senses of the word. Then, I tend to remember that she's still fairly young: no shortage of kids in their 20s who discover Che Guevara, Karl Marx, Noam Chomsky and the like in their 101 prereq classes and suddenly think they're the first people to ever be enlightened about what a wonderful Utopia this world could be if only we all weren't so materialistic.

The amount of media attention she has gotten seems totally disproportionate with the amount of electoral success she has thus far had and the amount of actual, political power she currently wields. Some of her stances on various issues I agree with. Others, she comes across as very, very naďve...in both the positive and negative senses of the word. Then, I tend to remember that she's still fairly young: no shortage of kids in their 20s who discover Che Guevara, Karl Marx, Noam Chomsky and the like in their 101 prereq classes and suddenly think they're the first people to ever be enlightened about what a wonderful Utopia this world could be if only we all weren't so materialistic.

Yeah but she is an authoritarian. We are going to make everyone fall in line. The reality is people don't handle power well and that is why we have the checks and balances in our political system but it only works with people who act like adults and can compromise and come up with realistic solutions. There is a bigger problem than just plain greed. The real problem is a complete lack of ethics with a large percentage of our politicians and the complete lack of maturity in the individuals who are supposed to be serving the public while in office. The system isn't broken. The people in it are and I don't see anyone running who is any better so maybe the whole thing will blow itself out. I see things devolving to where people are just going to start ignoring the federal government and out of necessity state and local government will become more important than ever. Who knows maybe the US will splinter into several smaller countries. I don't see any realistic fixes. So load the bong and have a good smoke and enjoy watching Rome burn.